Nature Notes
Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum?
How do flowers market themselves to pollinators?
Why do tarantulas cross the road?
Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert region and the Llano Estacado. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, this Marfa Public Radio original series reveals the secrets of desert life.
Join host Dallas Baxter for new episodes on each week on Thursdays. Episodes are written and produced by Andrew Stuart and edited by Marfa Public Radio and the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas.
Nature Notes is supported by Shield-Ayres Foundation.
Latest Episodes
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Right now, spring is announcing itself across West Texas in diverse ways. -
As scientists look more closely at the lesser earless lizards found in West Texas, they're gaining insight into the mechanisms that drive the diversity of life on Earth.
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In West Texas, the discovery of the 'Texas Mystery Spider' two decades ago launched an international scientific journey. And now researches are gaining surprising, if grisly, insights into this tiny desert creature.
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The West Texas mountains host a wonderous diversity of birds — from colorful full-time residents to migrating hummingbirds. But this winter has been something special. From Alpine to the Guadalupe Mountains, birds rarely seen in Texas have made their winter abodes here.
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The drying of the Rio Grande in Big Bend last spring was stark evidence of its dire condition — and restoring it requires knowing something of its original state.
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The rock shelters of the Pecos Canyonlands are an archeological treasure trove, preserving a remarkable record of prehistoric life. Some of those treasures are literally waste: coprolites, fossilized human feces, from the caves have yielded vivid insights into the diets and ritual lives of ancient people.
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When the Rio Grande ran dry in Big Bend National Park last spring, photographs of the park's iconic canyons framing an empty riverbed sparked concern not only in Texas, but nationally. The response was justified.
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Today, Big Bend National Park is a place to escape from the modern world and into the wilderness. But this harsh and majestic place was also home to countless people, from archaic hunters to 20th-century farmers.
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Now celebrating 15 years, Alpine's Borderlands Research Institute fuses scientific rigor with practical conservation.
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The first European to encounter Native American life in our region bore witness to a distinctive phenomenon. When Cabeza de Vaca arrived at La Junta de…
